The battle continued. The situation on and below the city walls was intense, but the Ming Army on the city walls had the upper hand. The rebel army below the city walls had to look up to attack. Without the protection of the shield soldiers, they were in danger at all times. On the other hand, the Ming Army on the city walls was protected by the shield soldiers. Spears, arrows, and stones were thrown at them. The rebel army below the city walls was beaten until their heads were full of bruises. After fighting for two hours, the second attack of a thousand troops had completely failed. Bo Yun was so angry that his teeth itched. However, he could not endure such a large loss of soldiers. He suppressed his anger and ordered the troops to retreat. Two to three hundred soldiers retreated in panic.
The Ming Army had withstood the second wave of attack from the rebel army. Everyone rejoiced and celebrated another victory.
"Hahahaha! General, in these two to four hours, at least a thousand of the rebel army have lost their lives below the city walls. Two thousand troops have been beaten back by us. Let's see how many soldiers they have left! They claim to have thirty thousand soldiers, but I estimate that they have less than ten thousand! Losing ten percent of their soldiers in four hours, let's see how arrogant they can be! Hahahahaha! "
He had fought an extremely carefree battle and suppressed the rebel army to the point where they could not lift their heads. The firearms that he originally thought would not be of much use now shone brilliantly. One hundred cannon soldiers and two hundred muskets were able to beat the rebel army to a pulp. When the one hundred muskets fired at the same time, it was truly a spectacular sight. Not only did it sound powerful, but it also had great lethality. It directly broke the arms and legs of the rebel army below.
"Those who were directly killed are not the big heads. Then the wounded soldiers who were hit by lead are the big heads. When they return, they will die without a doubt. This result of the battle is also on your head. That's right, how are the losses of our army? Have they been calculated?"
Xiao Ruxun was very concerned about the losses of this battle.
Chen Xie brought over the report and replied, "Our army lost eighty-six people, two hundred and one lightly injured, and thirty-nine seriously injured."
Xiao Ruxun immediately said, "The lightly injured must be kept alive, and the heavily injured must also be treated with all our strength. They are all well-trained veterans. If they're gone, who knows how much effort it will take to train a new recruit. Tell the doctors not to be stingy with the herbs. If the herbs are gone, they can be planted and harvested again, but if they're gone, then they're really gone. Pay more pensions to the dead, return the corpses to their families, and give them more cloth and food."
Chen Xie nodded in agreement.
"The rebel army has suffered a serious setback this time. They will definitely go back to reorganize their troops and learn from their mistakes. The next battle will be even harder to fight. Everyone, please be more careful. The shieldbearers cannot be left out, and the firearms cannot be stopped."
The generals cupped their fists in response.
Xiao Ruxun nodded in relief and looked to the south.
Would Wei Xueceng's reinforcements come? Or rather, when would they come? The rebel army had the advantage in numbers, and the battles that followed would only get more and more difficult. If they went crazy and sent more reinforcements to attack again, the situation would become even worse. If necessary, they would need to use some tricks to win.
Xiao Ruxun's prediction and memory were not wrong. On the afternoon of the second day of the war, when the Ming Army defeated the rebel army for the sixth time, a black mass of organized horse troops came from the southwest. This caused many Ming generals to turn pale and the soldiers to feel uneasy.
In this one and a half days, the frequency of the rebel army's attacks was very high. They fought six times in a row and the defenses were even more perfect. In order to guard against the muskets, even the large carts that carried supplies were taken down to be used as shields. This did indeed reduce their own casualties. The rebel army lost about two thousand soldiers. The Ming Army also lost about three hundred people in battle. Among them, there were more than thirty musketeers who died in battle. If this was any other time, it would have been an incredible casualty ratio.
Xiao Ruxun's expression was very calm. The arrival of the cavalry under the Mighty Rabbit to help was expected. Furthermore, in a battle to attack and defend a city, the cavalry was at most more of a deterrent.
"General, the rebel army seems to have reinforcements coming. Looking at their attire, they are probably trapping prisoners!"
Zhao Hu came with a shocked expression. Chen Xie and Wang Hui also had uneasy expressions.
Xiao Ruxun only nodded his head calmly. "As expected."
Hearing this, the three generals had strange expressions. Looking at Xiao Ruxun's calm appearance, their hearts strangely calmed down.
"Bo Bai has put in a lot of effort to trick the cavalry to come to help. Moreover, they are horse troops and cannot attack the city. Attacking the city still depends on the infantry under Bo Yun. As for the cavalry, they can only be used after the city is breached. Or they can just dismount and become infantry. Based on the relationship between the captives and Bo Bai, they are using each other. It is impossible for them to use their precious cavalry to fight as infantry. At most, they will just make a show of strength. There is no need to worry! We only need to focus on defending the city. "
Although he said this, Xiao Ruxun was thinking about the possibility of taking down the 3,000 cavalry. Although Bo Bai had been eliminated, the captives were even more hateful. During the entire battle of Ningxia, Bo Bai was not the main point of the Ming court's defense. What the Ming court was really worried about was the captives behind Bo Bai. With Mighty Rabbit as the leader of the Mongolian tribes in Hetao, if they interfered, it would be no different from a vicious stab to the Daming.
They had to be taught a lesson so that when they wanted to take advantage of them in the future, they would have to think twice about whether it was appropriate.
In that case, they had to lay the groundwork early …
Looking at Xiao Ruxun's calm and collected manner, everyone relaxed. They did what they had to do and defended the city seriously. Not long after, the rebel army's seventh attack began.
This time, the attack was very powerful. The rebel army actually mobilized the strength of two thousand-man teams to attack the city. The Ming Army fought hard. They fought until sunset when the rebel army's main camp sounded the gong to retreat. Only then did the rebel army leave behind four to five hundred corpses and flee in a panic. The Ming Army was not satisfied and continued to fire until the rebel army retreated from their shooting range.
After the rebel army retreated, the Ming Army started to prepare for dinner. The war was urgent and needed to feed the soldiers. There was an abundance of food in the city, enough to last them for four months. Therefore, Xiao Ruxun ordered an open supply of food. As long as there were pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and ducks in the city, they would all be bought and slaughtered for nutrition for the soldiers. This was to ensure that every soldier would be able to eat at least one meal of meat every day. At the very least, they would be able to drink meat soup. Salt and oil were also provided freely. Without salt, one would not have strength. This was also a taboo in the army. The soldiers had to eat their fill so that they would have the strength to fight and not complain.
During dinner, the three generals, Zhao Hu, Wang Hui, and Chen Xie, were called by Xiao Ruxun to the shop on the city wall. Hearing Xiao Ruxun's explanation, the three generals' eyes widened. After a long time, the three generals gritted their teeth and nodded, agreeing to Xiao Ruxun's request.
Riches were found in danger!
In the main tent of the rebel army's camp, Bo Yun glared fiercely at the two rebel generals kneeling in front of the tent. His eyes were even bigger than copper bells. On the left side of the main seat sat a burly and boorish man. He was playing with an ornate dagger in his hand. This person was Mighty Rabbit, the Mongolian invader who had brought three thousand horsemen as reinforcements. His expression was relaxed as he watched Bo Yun punish the two rebel generals who had failed in their attack.
"Failed in attacking the city and lost five hundred of my troops! What face do you have to come and see me?! Push them out! Kill them!! "
Perhaps Mighty Rabbit's slightly disdainful attitude had angered Bo Yun, but Bo Yun, who had not planned to kill them, still gave the order to kill the two of them. He could not lose face.
Seeing Bo Yun's furious expression, Mighty Rabbit was too embarrassed to say the sarcastic words in his heart. If he really said it out loud, it would not look good on everyone. Mighty Rabbit had received money and benefits. Since he had received money and benefits, he had to do things. Otherwise, his reputation would be tarnished. In the future, who would come looking for him to do such good things?
"Bo Yun, your father invited me here to help you. I'm here now, but you also know that I can't break open the tortoise shell of the Han people. If you don't make a hole in it, even if my three thousand cavalrymen descended from the heavens, they won't be able to charge into the city. How can I help you defeat the enemy? You have to think of a way yourself! "
Looking at Mighty Rabbit's calm expression, Bo Yun's heart was filled with anger. However, Mighty Rabbit was right. How could the cavalrymen attack the city? Could they ride their horses and crash into the city walls? Wasn't that courting death? Not to mention the fact that the Ming Army in the city had sharp weapons like muskets. With a volley of shots, the soldiers at the foot of the city wall would fall to the ground. Those who didn't die would bleed profusely and couldn't be treated. In these two days, there were at least one hundred and twenty soldiers who were shot by lead bullets. They didn't die at the foot of the city wall but bled to death after returning to the camp!
"This Xiao Ruxun is too good at defending the city. You've seen it for yourself. I've been attacking the city day and night. More than two thousand men have died, but I still can't take it down! The Han people aren't good at other things, but they are good at defending the city. They also have those firearms. God knows how they can use them so well! "
Mighty Rabbit acted as if he had been through this before. He walked forward and patted the young man's shoulder. "Young man, don't be impatient. This old man has been fighting with the Han people every year. Do you think I don't know the Han people's Three Axes? Although firearms are powerful, they have limited ammunition. Furthermore, they can't be used when it rains. They can't be used when fighting in the wilderness. You ah, don't be impatient. You have to wait. These Han people are trapped inside the city. You can't enter, but they can't come out either! Wait until they run out of gunpowder. What are you afraid of? "
Bo Yun hurriedly asked, "Uncle, what strategy do you have to teach me?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
